Being lost

Written last night:

This morning Zing! and I took an extra-long walk by the library, which is where a woman about half my size approached us. I think it was Zing! who made her feel comfortable doing it. But she couldn’t speak English. She obviously needed help -- she was pleading with me, using her eyes and gesturing to a bag she carried. Finally I heard the word “Taiwan." I asked, “Mandarin?” and she shook her head NO. The only other word that I understood was “27.” Maybe she wanted to go to 27th Street,  I drew a map. It was a long walk. I pointed to a bus passing by. She looked at me, completely lost. And I have felt that way too. 


So I walked with her down I Street, past the government offices, asking people we met if they knew anyone who could understand my new lost friend.  Finally we got to the front of the California Environmental Protection Agency building, where two men stopped, and they worked on it, using a phone translation ap. “Where are you going?” one man asked, and the phone translated that to Taiwanese, which she listened to, and then answered in Taiwanese, which the phone translated into English. Then the men thought of a co-worker who might speak her language, and they called and asked her to come outside. Quickly she appeared. The two women talked briefly, and in this way we learned the lost woman was looking for Meals on Wheels, and she was heading to a central location on 27th Street — where it’s prepared, I think. But she had no idea how to get there. 


”You should wait at home,” the woman told her. “You don’t have to pick it up. They will deliver it.” 

The woman understood, and turned back toward the street, and I said I’d see that she got home. 

“But wait,” one man said. “Are you hungry now?” 

His co-worker translated and my friend shook her head NO, not hungry. 

We warmly thanked them, and they wished us well, and I walked the woman back to her home, which is an apartment across from the train station on  J Street. As soon as we got within her block she brightened, greeting in her language several people who passed by. She wanted Zing! and me to go inside and wait with her, but we thanked her and left. 

Love,
k

Maybe the moon ....

Written last night:
Dear Friends, 

Lately Sacramento has been in the news (you've heard it, I assume) as a focal point of racial inequity. Some disquiet has occurred in the rejuvenating midtown area. The city is in flux. Tonight I heard the head of the Crocker Museum speak to an audience of museum members about the future. First, she described herself simply as “a lesbian woman of a certain age.” Her talk was detailed, realistic, and full of humor. At the end she said she expects a big revolution soon — on a scale of the American Revolution or the French Revolution or the Industrial Revolution -- unless we get creative in solving all the nation’s inequities. Then I went outside and looked at the moon.

Love,

k

We meet a crowd on our evening walk

Written last night:

Dear Friends,

Zing! and I walked by the Arena just now,  joining an orderly, noisy crowd — some in purple Kings shirts -- calling for justice, following the police killing of Stephon Clark here March 18. Barricades kept cars away from the Arena, but people moved freely in the mall outside, and a helicopter circled as the crowd blocked entrance to the Kings game (Kings lost to Dallas, 97-103). Zing! did not care for the noise and all those feet down by him. He told me later he prefers to make a point with reasonable barking.*

Love,

k

* Search Sacramento Bee video for related activity.

Love,

k

Zing! on our balcony after we got home

Now I kind of like it

Written last night:
Dear Friends,

I’ve been messing around with paint, and was going to paint over all of this, but now I kind of like it. Maybe tomorrow…

Love,

k

We take a dry run through Wine Country

Written last night:
Dear Friends,

I decided to go to Napa today because tomorrow the streets both here and in Napa might be full of young gun-control demonstrators.(I hope they are!) I went to check out the wine tour that Mary, Gretchen and I will be taking in mid-April. I want to become more familiar with the streets and the hills. Gretchen picked the wineries (with one bubbly suggestion from my local friend Hilary) and made reservations for tastings. She decided on three wineries and a lunch stop. Then she made a little map for herself (which she discarded, or I would reproduce it here), trying to keep the area compact. We did not want to be driving all over Napa-Sonoma-Calistoga. I offered to drive and not drink, but everyone seems to think that’s a terrible idea, so Gretchen is going to book a driver. I didn’t taste any wine today — but these are sure to be good, since Gretchen picked wine she loves. Her wine tour might help you, too, if/when you go to wine country. There are so many choices that it's easy to get confused.

I’m just getting to know wine country. People around here all seem to have a favorite place. Some belong to wine clubs, and get regular mailings and crates of wine delivered. They have weddings and other events at "their" winery. I’ve been to a big winery, where you can just drop in and have a tasting — giant rooms with bars scattered everywhere, each one hosting a small group. You pay a fee and get three to five tastes. They are hoping you will buy a bottle or a case, but you don’t have to. I’ve also been to a small winery, with the same setup on a more intimate scale. Some wineries have delicatessens and beautiful picnic areas. It can get crowded. That’s why Gretchen made reservations.

Today I only made it to Caymus and Oakville Grocery. It took an hour to get from Sacramento to Napa and 2 1/2 hours to get back. Traffic.

Love,

k

Here’s Gretchen’s Napa Wine Tour:

Caymus (— beyond Napa — an hour and a half from downtown Sacramento)

8700 Conn Creek Rd.

Rutherford, CA 94573

707-967-3010

(6-minute drive)

Oakville Grocery (for lunch — a fine deli with minimal eating space outside. Looks like there’s just a little parking, but there’s more in the rear, next to the tiny Oakville Post Office.)

7856 St. Helena Hwy.

Oakville, CA 94562

707-944-8802

(12-minute drive)

Clos Du Val

5330 Silverado Trail

Napa, CA 94558

707-261-5225

(20-minute drive)

Domain Carneros (sparkling wines)

1240 Duhig Rd.

Napa, CA 94559

Above and below, Zing! at Caymus

Activism here and now

Written last night:
Dear Friends,

Looks like the Sacramento Kings won tonight … to a sparse crowd. I’m sure you know that most fans were turned away because protestors blocked the arena where the game was held, to draw attention to the Sacramento police killing of a young black man who was "armed" with a cellphone. 

Police were at the freeway entrance near the arena at about 5 p.m. as I was heading to my ukulele class. Then, when I headed back an hour later, there was a traffic jam at my exit. I thought it meant there might be a game (OK, I’m clueless… there WAS a game...) But traffic was almost frozen, and cops lined the way. Finally I got where I was going — the Crocker Museum, to hear a panel discuss Art and Activism. It was mostly about the past,  while the present was flashing  on freeway right outside. I left early. 

Here’s a video of the arena (It’s the building that looks kind of like blocks just past the lights.) that I took from my balcony. Looks like they’re leaving the game, with police lights flashing.

Love,

k

Lonely guitar

Written last night:
Dear Friends,

Today at the noon chamber music concert we heard Anderson-Gram, a husband and wife duo who sang and played original folk songs. Before they came onstage there was just a guitar, waiting. Later in the afternoon Zing! and I went for a walk and found ourselves in Macy’s shoe department. Zing! sat patiently while I tried on shoes. 

Love,

k

Poems are my new normal

Written Thursday:
Dear Friends,

I’ve got to admit it — I enjoyed doing “nothing” several days when I had a cold. But now I’m back to “normal.” (You see nothing and normal both in quotes because I’m the person who is defining them. And if I’m defining Normal, watch out!)

Today Zing! spent the afternoon with our friend Tony, and I went to the library for poetry sharing. It is so simple and so powerful. Anyone who wants to just comes to the Sacramento Room on I Street and we take turns reading poems (not our own.) The subject was, loosely, Spring. Here is the one I chose. Claribel Alegría* was from Nicaragua; she died in January. Her poem made me think of Spring in Miami. Not all Springtimes are the same.

Love,

k
*In the photo I forgot the accent mark on Alegría. 

Getting back to messy

Written Wednesday night:

Dear Friends,
Today I started painting again. The really messy kind — flowers, with fingers and not even a brush. I spilled paint on the floor, but was able to clean everything up. I haven’t painted this way since Clark died. He would be happy. 
In another kind of art altogether, here is a drawing I began a week ago, as the train pulled across the I Street Bridge. It looks like spoons, but it’s really the pointy tops of a fence surrounding a little house.  I got carried away!
Love,
k

Talking all the way

Written last night:

Dear Friends,

Today was quiet. 

But I forgot to tell you about my less -than-quiet train ride to San Francisco.

Wednesday morning I got on the train and took a seat. Soon a woman took the seat facing me. As the train began to move she started a series of phone calls. Her remarks were encouraging and professional; she seemed to be a counselor or psychologist. After a few minutes she put her phone away and told me she wanted to get her work done quickly because she’d just had “half an edible,”  and wanted to relax. She said she was about 70 and ready to retire. Then we began to talk, and we talked all the way to San Francisco, … Politics, work, writing, living in Silicon Valley… When it was about time to get off, a man sitting across the aisle came over. 

“Excuse me,” he said, “I heard you discussing politics, and I’d like to introduce myself. I’m Richie Greenberg. I’m running for mayor of San Francisco.”  

My new friend immediately pressed him about his relationship with the president, and soon Mr. Greenberg politely said goodbye. Here’s the postcard he gave me (You know this is NOT an endorsement!)

Love,

k

Home again

Written last night:

Dear Friends,

I went to San Francisco and did not blog. Got computer problems. Then got a cold. Zing! has a cough. Today we did nothing. Feeling better. 

I think my computer problems are solved too. Don’t ask how!

Love,

k

Bay Bridge

No, Zing! is not at a bar
This is a sculpture outside the dog park by our Safeway market
It says BARK

Far away, nearby

Written Saturday night:
Dear Friends,

About a month ago I went to an art workshop in Napa led by Judy Coates-Perez. She taught many skills, but the most important to me was an aside — that there is a great Japanese supermarket on Freeport Boulevard. (Teachers never know what nugget will stick.) I have a soup recipe that calls for mirin, which I have not been able to find at Safeway or Trader Joe’s,  so finally today I searched for it at Oto's Marketplace. 

I felt as off-balance there as if I were on a skateboard. I could not read the labels. I did not recognize the pink and green sweets. I walked up and down the aisles looking for mirin, but had no idea where it would be. I thought it had sesame in it, so I lingered longest at the sesame oil section. Finally I asked a clerk for help. “Am I pronouncing it right?” I asked him.  No, I was missing something — the good-natured young man said MIRIN slightly differently; he pointed me to the rows of bottles. 

I also bought mushrooms with long legs and sweet pickled radish, and pork-stuffed gyoza, dumplings that I sautéed in sesame oil for lunch. They were delicious. I loved the whole trip — far away, nearby.

Love,

k

Zing magic

Written last night:

Dear Friends,

Zing has magic. Maybe all dogs do.

Today a friend had an operation — and he’s fine -- but he feared otherwise. And who does he want to see as soon as he gets home? 

Zing!

I told him I’d make him some cookies, and he said Spice would be fine. But first, Let me see Zing!

Love,

k